The idea that this site is a cold house for republicans is frankly laughable. We often hear the same complaint by unionists when they feel as if they are being ganged up on.

I find it interesting that nobody has seriously challenged the assumptions behind History Lesson’s analysis….

Why would you come here?
Mutual backslapping?

The SF supporters feel hard done by? Fair enough but then anyone who says anything against that party here is likely to be howled down or at least abused, even if it was a balanced comment. The problem is that many of the less bright ones (and there are some real exceptions on Slugger) havent yet discovered that real politics is as much about listening as spouting propaganda. ‘Debates’ can then rapidly degenerate to ‘my da’s bigger than your da’ stuff.

But, to an extent, that’s politics and if u dont like it, well there are other ways to spend your time and many of us who do come here hope you will use them!

PS why am I a troll? because i dont want my email inbox cluttered up with abuse

Still, amidst all the petulant trashing of anyone who dares utter the slightest criticism of the infallible machine of unsullied political piety that is PSF/PIRA, you do remind us of what the wee “war” was all about

As you so triumphantly affirm, it was all about the precious “ministries and seats”. Yes “ministries and seats”.

All those innocent people killed and maimed -all those lives wasted, including the volunteeers who thought it was a struggle for national liberation; all the resources trashed that could have been invested in health, education and jobs; all the polarisation of the working class, ghettoised in the north to the nth degree; all the predictable alienation of Protestants from things Irish; the deep well of hurt and pain. What was it all for, again?

Why of course, “ministries and seats” in a partitionist six-counties Stormont assembly fronted by the defiant statue of Edward Carson and nary the flutter of a tricolour about the place.

In short,a return to the future that was Sunningdale – only this time with the political knuckle-draggers who opposed it first time round, at the helm of the ship of fools.

And, if there is any “slapping up ye ” to be done, you would think that Republican-ultras,who dedicate themselves to bullying online propaganda, might just for once take a reddener and show a bit of humility in the face of decades of monstrous folly.

Regarding the Republicans who post on here, they seem unable to dampen their anger and bitterness towards pretty much anybody else. Regardless of political differences, they nearly all persist in posting vitriolic, angry snipes at just about anybody who opposes the SF line. May be they are sent here to do just that? Either way, it stiffles any real debate.

There appears to be a tendancy in some quarters of republican thinking that has a hard time with free speech. I’m thinking specifically of that time when Gerry Adams told Mark Devenport not to ask stupid questions when he posed an entirely reasonable, albeit sensitive, question on the issue of the IRA army council. Pat seems to think that people should be stopped from posting speculation, disregarding the fact that hard facts about community issues, especially when they revolve around secret paramilitary organizations, are not easy to come by in the first place. Secondly, the complaints about speculative contributions only ever come from republicans when Sinn Fein is the target. Republicans are more than happy to continuously post all kinds of speculative innuendo about the RUC, PSNI, collusion, MI5 etc etc.

Regarding the sock puppets, I don’t think they contribute anything at all. I’d like to see IP addresses being logged alongside people’s posts to put a stop to that. If push comes to shove and people want to be anonymous, they can find a cybercafe or something.

It’s still a shame that Pat is not about. There are two types of republican contributors; the minority (comprising cg, Chris D, Pat and one or two others) who appear to argue their point rigorously and who provide real insight; and the Sinn Fein cheerleaders who are just repeating the party mantra and getting the boot stuck into the Brits/unionists/police/Alliance Party etc. I’m certain that a considerable chunk of the republican contributions here are coming from outside of these islands.

Like many people, this “dissident troll / stoop wind-up merchant, etc etc” (and I must be ‘cos SuperSoupy says I am) is firmly of the opinion that when SF speaks, it does so with a forked tongue. It says one thing to the media which can often translate into something very different on the ground. Gerry has endorsed the PSNI but that has not cascaded to the grass-roots yet….

You are probably the only Republican critic that can deliver that line with any credibility.

Barring Pat every Republican is still here. The dissident trolls and most of the stoop wind-up merchants are still AWOL or operating under post-electoral red face nom-de-plumes.

The muck slinging continues. The success is still unquestionable.

I say – slap it up ye, the bitterness only shows how beat you are. Bring it on, the ministries and seats counter any bullshit better than words.

The other contributions on this thread here amount to, once again, republican whining. Republicans come under criticism, and for this reason the entire site is regarded as a huge witch hunt operation. You lads can’t take your slagging like men.

What they are saying is that online Shinners should be given free reign to blacken anyone who dares offer the slightest criticism of them and their Sunningdaleism (with Paisleyism thrown in) for dunderheads.

This can only be comprehended as a symptom of a movement accustomed to the certainties of the culture of the dictat, struggling to accustom itself to the unfamiliar constraints of democratic accountability.

Shinners should get used to the fact that they are part of the new establishment in the north and to the spotlight of critical scrutiny. It’s called opposition.

“It’s Slugger. Aren’t we used to it?”

Doesn’t make it acceptable.
Maybe its time to sit at the front of the bus?

http://www.sluggerotoole.com/archives/2005/07/commenting_poli.php

An untruth about a small group even when an individual is not named is potentionally defamation/libel.

Mick implements a policy of as along as an individual is not named (unless of course it is Ingram making unsubstansiated claims about living or dead Republicans) ball/man rule over the true definition of defamation.

I doubt generalised slurs would be allowed in any other situition ie. I hear that many senior members South Belfast Alliance are getting a good deal on cheap Chinese prostitutes or I have a tape where a senior blogger on Slugger’s admits to drug dealing and rape.

A general and defamatory accusation or even an explicit one like those added by the spook are allowed to stand if they are anti-Republican.

It’s Slugger. Aren’t we used to it?

Mick,

If you can’t see how defamation (the law) works – ie. you don’t have to name an individual you can defame a person if they are a member of a small defamed group – we’ll have problems on this discussion.

Your biggest problem is defamation of the Notorantonios, then those moving into vacant property, then members of the murph SF.

You haven’t allowed allegations against any individual to stand but have ignored the fact that the law states defamation can take place without explicitly naming when a group is small and all individuals in that group are smeared.

It’s one for you to call and you’ve clearly decided a generalised slur is ok (mainly on the incorrect basis you can’t be liable for them).

http://www.connollycolumn.org/ccolum.html

I am more than happy to strike the comments, if someone can point out where they play the man. I am extremely (some would say too extremely) sensitive to this kind of gaming and very quick to move even where it involves people who are unlikely to take action.

I should add that on review of this thread, I have closed (rather than removed) your own comments at number 3 on page one since you clearly go beyond any evidence in the public domain to apportion blame (by name, which HL explicitly does not) for this appalling incident.

His site, his rules.

Tonight we have Ingram making serious and unsubstansiated allegations against a named SF member again – it’ll stand as always.

We have claims being made about the entire Notorantonio family. A local SF cumann. Claims about Eoin Morley. They’ll all stand.

They all share one thing, they are part of contributions that are agressively anti-SF, they are all unsubstansiated and are claiming illegal activity without one shred of evidence or corroboration.

Rabbit punches are a fact of life here. Rabbit punches being allowed to remain when they are anti-SF is just part of the Slugger experience.

I can’t see it changing and am surprised that Pat has walked over what is normal form here.

15 was in response to your 12.
Had to watch the end of Fletch.
Agree with you about the Myers and Emerson stuff.
It really gets annoying when people they normally wouldn’t give the time of day to are regarded as credible information sources when they make an allegation against republicans.